My son is the total opposite of me at the same age. Unlike him, I had a fairly limited palate just before I was six years old. Though my picks weren’t really “typical” kid picks - necessarily. And my foods mostly revolved around…red meat (more on that later). It’s a wonder I didn’t develop some sort of health condition back then. I suppose being a kid, paired with smaller portion sizes in the 80s made a difference.
While I don’t think six year old me would be diagnosed with ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder), I’d say that yes, there were certain things I’d only eat from certain restaurants. Like McDonald’s fries. I didn’t like Harvey’s because they were too potato-y. And for a long time, I didn’t like cheese unless it was on pizza (looking back, I think I know why - two words: Kraft Singles. I DID learn to like processed cheese when I had grilled cheese for the first time, but maybe that was different because it was between two slices of bread? I DO buy sliced cheese, but it’s a much less processed kind like L’Ancetre sliced cheddar (or mozzarella). Other yucks? The salad my mom made for our summer backyard barbecues (it was a melange of both fruit and vegetables tossed in a dressing called “Creamy Cucumber.” I think it’s kind of like Green Goddess, but grosser? I remember it having avocado, lemon, apples and sometimes grapes along with iceberg and a few other things. It was really the dressing that turned me off. And the only kind of salad she’d make. Funny how I LOVE salad today. And my salads are also kind of fully loaded. Dressing, however, is hummus and vinegar), most shellfish (still yucks to this day) and dau fu fah (a Chinese dessert of silken/soft tofu in a gingery syrup. It was often offered as a complimentary dessert back in the 80s. Trust me, the way restaurants served it back then was NOT appetizing to look at. They can make it look fancier now (individual servings, for example), but that was NOT what they did back then. And NO, I didn’t eat savoury tofu either, since it was always made with a softer kind). I still don’t like soft tofu unless it’s all blended up in a smoothie or sauce. BLECH. Fish, especially home cooked were a hit or miss.
As for foods I DID eat back then? As I mentioned above, lots of red meat. Stir fried beef and choy sum (but NOT gai lan. And yes, I’ll have that with chow mein as well), meatballs (both the Italian and steamed Chinese beef balls you get at dim sum) or meat sauce (I LOVED it when my grandmother made ground beef and tomatoes - essentially a version of a Sloppy Joe - over rice), beef cheung fun (steamed rice rolls), hamburgers from McDonald’s (though not cheeseburgers OR Chicken McNuggets. I thought it had a weird aftertaste even though I liked chicken), pepperoni pizza and my grandmother’s roast chicken in soy sauce (I also liked Swiss Chalet’s rotisserie chicken but not their fries. I guess it’s because the fries are more or less the same as Harvey’s since they were owned by the same people?). Pork chops in soy sauce weren’t bad and eating that meant that we would eat with a fork and knife rather than chopsticks - a rare treat when dining at home. I later expanded my palate a bit, but I don’t think it REALLY expanded until I was at least 10 or 11. It’s funny how a carnivore turned into a mostly pescatarian as an adult, no? As for sweets, it was either vanilla or chocolate chip ice cream. I thought chocolate had a weird aftertaste. But my parents almost NEVER bought chocolate. They, for some reason, only got vanilla Haagen-Dazs!
This is all SO DIFFERENT from my son, who will eat things like calamari and lobster - things I STILL won’t touch! And yes, he ALSO eats “kid” foods. His favourite kind of pizza is cheese (this includes Margherita) and loves chicken fingers (more than burgers). And I’m sure if Little Cynthia (then known as Cindy) had a crystal ball and saw me today, she’d freak out. She’d wonder what all of this fully loaded vegetarian pizza (topped with zucchini, eggplant and roasted red peppers) or poached eggs on a green salad with avocado were all about. Or why I don’t eat much red meat at all. Tofu and mozzarella bake? I’m not sure. Considering that my family didn’t really make things with firm tofu, I suppose she COULD give it a try. Little Cynthia DID like lasagna, and THAT could be mushy, so go figure. My other current favourites, like falafels, would be totally foreign to her, so I’m not sure what she’d think. I’m not sure she’d like the flavour though. Whether she’d like apple cinnamon ice cream (my FAVOURITE from Summer’s Ice Cream), well, I’m not sure about that (it tastes like apple pie, minus the crust). I DO still like chocolate chip though. And yes, I like chocolate ice cream now - but I can’t have it without another flavour.
Were YOU a picky eater when you were little? Are/were your kids if you have any?
Well said